Imagining A Future City Filled With Driverless Cars And Without Any Parking Spaces

As self-driving cars move from fantasy to reality, what kind of effect will they have on cities?

A research and urban prototyping project called Shuffle City investigates, and in the process, becomes a manifesto for a new kind of modern city–one that depends less on traditional public transportation like buses or light rail and more on creating a fleet of continuously moving automated vehicles to serve urban mobility needs.

Shuffle City looks at the new possibilities that could arise from cities transitioning to cars without drivers. If cars were put into some constant flow as a public good, and if people didn’t all have their own vehicles, there would be no need for the concrete wastelands and lifeless towers that serve as a parking infrastructure in the urban landscapes of car-centric cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles (Under the current ownership model, the average car spends 21 hours per day parked.)

The share of city space ruled by parking lots will shrink, making way for more green space, environmental buffers, workspace, housing, retail, and denser planning for more walkable cities…